Strong US jobs and wages data failed to stop the London market pulling back from near all-time highs today.
A profits warning from Tate & Lyle depressed the mood as the FTSE 100 Index drifted 12.5 points to 6853.4, falling further away from the four-and-a-month high reached in trading earlier in the week.
The pound fell against the dollar, to 1.52, after data showed that the US added 257,000 jobs last month and wages grew by the most in six years.
New figures also revealed that the UK's annual trade deficit grew to its highest level since 2010. The data is likely to cause concern amid efforts to rebalance the economy away from its dependence on domestic demand, although sterling still rose to 1.35 against the struggling euro.
In the FTSE 100 Index, GlaxoSmithKline was higher after it disclosed that tests of its treatment for a certain strain of melanoma skin cancer achieved a significant reduction in the number of deaths.
Shares were 1% higher - up 17p to 1517.5p - in the week that the drugs giant disclosed that core operating profit for last year fell 6% to £6.59 billion.
Outsourcing firm Capita also rose sharply - 15p to 1158p - as it said it had been given approval by NHS England ahead of the selection of supply chain partners for new support services contracts.
Housebuilder Barratt Development featured on the fallers board with a drop of 2% or 10.5p to 459.7p, while rival Persimmon was off 4p at 1614p.
BT shares were also marginally lower - off 1p at 443p - after rising to a 14-year high the previous night on the back of its £12.5 billion deal to buy EE.
Former blue-chip stock Tate & Lyle led the fallers in the FTSE 250 Index after it issued a fresh profits warning due to a weak performance from its bulk ingredients division, where trading has been hit by lower US sweetener volumes and weaker ethanol margins.
Shares slumped almost 14% or 91p to 573.5p as investors digested the company's third profits downgrade of the last year.
Poundland rose more than 15% after it added a potential two million new customers through a deal to buy 251 shops trading as 99p Stores and Family Bargains.
Buying Northampton-based 99p Stores will give Poundland a bigger presence in the south of England where it is under-represented.
Shares were 55.2p higher at 413p, although as the company already owns nearly 600 stores in the UK, Ireland and Spain it will have to seek clearance from the Competition and Markets Authority.
The biggest risers in the FTSE 100 Index were Barclays up 6.65p at 255.45p, Aberdeen Asset Management up 10.1p at 440.9p, Ashtead Group up 21p at 1094p and Schroders up 52p at 2967p.
The biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 Index were Randgold Resources down 240p at 5310p, Fresnillo down 37p at 860p, Anglo American down 26.5p at 1145.5p, Barratt Development down 10.5p at 459.7p.
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